


In Which Rose Takes Her Brother's Identity And Hijinks Follow Suit

by OptimisticEgbert



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, Horrible haircuts brought to you by Karkat Vantas, Things that happen on the meteor stay on the meteor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-19
Updated: 2013-06-19
Packaged: 2017-12-15 12:02:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/849343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OptimisticEgbert/pseuds/OptimisticEgbert
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose is pushed into circumstances that lead to the eventual messing with of Dave's psyche.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Which Rose Takes Her Brother's Identity And Hijinks Follow Suit

**Author's Note:**

> This is during the meteor ride, but before Karkat and Dave are friends. Also Dave and Terezi are still dating and Rose isn't a relationship with Kanaya yet.

Life on the meteor had been normal, or as normal as a meteor full of hormonal teenagers (aliens and humans alike) can get. Everyone had grown from bratty thirteen year old's to semi-responsible sixteen year old's. Yes. Even Gamzee.

A generous feeling Karkat prowled the halls of his home (he knew every hall by memory, but it didn't hurt to explore), looking for someone to talk to. 

Kanaya had been busy working on a dress, and Gamzee was nowhere to be seen. Although things between him and Terezi had gotten better, he didn't want to fill his think pan with her nonsense. And Strider? Screw Strider.

He kept walking to hopefully find Rose. Rose wasn't bad company and he preferred to spend his time with her over Dave. He could even go so far as to say that talking to her almost didn't make him want to punch a wall.

The hallway kept going until he was unsure if it would ever end, then it took a turn he wasn't familiar with. Had he not been here before? Putting his hand on the smooth wall he continued cautiously down the new place.

It wasn't fairly long, at least not as long as the last hallway, and he found that their were two doors down there. He tried one to the right of the hallway, jiggling the door knob hard; It was locked much to his dismay.

He went to the left, seeing a difference in the state of the two doors. The right one looked like new and had all it's locks in tact (obviously). But the left one had a foot-shaped crater in the bottom and it's lock looked like it was broken off forcefully.

The lights in the ceiling flickered overhead, making him draw his sickles for safety. Although he was his pale-mate, Gamzee was still danegerous and could very well be behind the door. Steeling himself he opened the door slowly, peaking through to the other side.

The first thing Karkat noticed was that it was much brighter in the room than in the hallway, whoever was the residence took good care of the lights. He opened the door the rest of the way and was rendered speechless.

All around him were tall shelves filled with tons of books. The book-shelves were so tall that it seemed to alter the room's height and Karkat found himself staring up in wonder at how it was accomplished. Four long study tables, each with small lamps, populated the room; To Karkat the atmosphere felt like a new respite block than a library.

Rose was sitting at one of the tables reading a book under a table lamp (which wasn't really needed), and she looked up to greet him, “Karkat? What are you doing here?” she looked surprised, but not upset at his presence.

“I don't know, I just found it. What the fuck is this place?” Karkat walked closer to the girl so she didn't have to get up.

"It's a library Karkat. I discovered it during my second year, I come here to relieve stress. Would you like to sit down?” She pulled out one of the many chairs next to here and patted it.

Ignoring the obvious insult of his wording, Karkat took the invitation and sat down, “So you broke in?”

Rose put on the best offended face she could muster, “Why Karkat Vantas, are you accusing me of forcefully kicking a door in? Why I'd never!” She ended it with a smirk.

Karkat was starting to congratulate his choice of people to have a conversation with, “Well Miss Lalonde, I wouldn't doubt your ability to vandalize and break things in my life!” He covered his mouth in horror.

His conversational partner just smiled and shook her head, turning back to her reading. He left the conversation in a comfortable silence and looked closer at her.

Out of all the other people on the meteor, Rose might have been the one who changed the least. Karkat had gotten slightly taller with his face filling out into, what he hoped, was a handsome appearance. Terezi had, and much to Karkat's approval, gotten curvier and left the childish appearance behind.

Everyone else did growing of the same kind, except for Rose. She did change, but Karkat noticed how subtle it was. The slight changes in the face and body made her look more womanly, but they also served to make her resemble Strider just a bit less. Only a bit though.

Her and Strider were practically twins (or at least from how Rose described what twins were), if he were to base it just on looks and height. Hell, they probably weighed the same too. Karkat just couldn't tell if Rose was more like Dave, or if Dave was more like Rose.

Rose's hair had also grown longer, while Dave kept his short and had Kanaya cut it periodically, she let hers grow just below her shoulders. Rose was constantly pushing her hair out of her face while she reading or doing any other activity. She basically looked really uncomfortable with the length of it. Why can't humans just cut their own hair?

Karkat looked away from Rose to notice that, in all the discovery and confusion, he had forgotten to put his sickles away. His really sharp sickles. Rose pushed her hair out of her eyes one more time and something clicked for Karkat.

“Why don't you cut your hair?” Karkat asked, breaking whatever kind of concentration Rose had on the book.

She looked at him, “I don't know. I guess I just never got around to it. Now that I think about it, it's rather uncomfortable with how long it's getting...” She tried to blow her bangs away from her eyes but they just fell back into the same place.

“If it's uncomfortable I can cut it for you.” He gestured towards his sickles.

Rose seemed to think about it for a second but then she nodded her head, “Yeah, sure, I didn't know you cut hair?”

“I don't, but it can't be too hard. I mean as long as you just want it short.” Karkat shrugged coolly. He had been cutting his hair for his whole life, what's so hard about it?

At the time Rose supposed she should've thought better of letting an alien with no experience cut her hair, but it really was getting ridiculous for her. All through her childhood she never let her hair get longer than just below her chin, or maybe that was her mother's preference? It was all just blending together for Rose at this point.

But without letting logic get to her she agreed and helped Karkat set up an area with a mat so she didn't have to clean up too much after wards (it was a rare kindness from him).

A minute later she was in the chair, flinching as the cold metal of Karkat's sickle touched the back of her neck.

H~

Rose Lalonde never thought she'd end up in her library with someone hacking away at her hair with a sharp, pointy, object. But then again, she'd never thought a lot of things. One of those things being what she would look like when she was handed a mirror afterwards.

“Do you like it? I mean, it might be my first time cutting hair but I'm thinking I can do this for a fucking living!” Karkat boasted, holding his sickles above his head like a champion.

“Karkat...” Rose tried to get his attention.

“This is probably one of the most creative things I can do with these damn sickles. And to think, I'm good at it too!”

“Karkat.”

“Maybe I should start charging people for it? Do you think Strider would get his hair cut by me? I would purposefully screw his hair up if he'd let me-”

“Karkat!”

“Yes? Do you have any, appreciated but not needed, criticism for me?” He put his hand on his chin awaiting his wanted praise.

“I look like Dave...” Rose said calmly, looking at herself in the hand held mirror.

Karkat did a double take, no fucking way he could have made her look more like Strider. He was practically perfect at this job- And holy shit he did.

Rose's hair had been cut too short, short enough to match up to Dave. And the way that Karkat trimmed the top was uncanny to Dave's bird-like hairstyle. The way the hair hung at the edges of her face right over her ears made it seem like Dave's sideburns.

Karkat had done a good job. If the job was making her look like a clone of Dave from all distances and sides.

Infact, if Rose wasn't so busy observing her new hair cut, she would've made an analysis that Dave must've been on Karkat's mind a lot for him to screw up this bad.

“Woah, I guess you do...” Karkat wielded his sickles and brought them up to his chest for protection, “Alright, if you're going to beat the shit out of me just give me a fucking chance to plead my case!”

Rose was still eerily silent, moving her hands through her hair, shaking her new bangs out.

“Oh God...Please don't hurt me, Rose! I'm fucking begging. You know that I didn't mean to make you look like Dave, unless you don't, then in that case I'll beg harder.” Karkat clapped his hands together and made begging motions, trying to get her to say something- anything.

“Karkat stop. This may work...” Rose finally spoke, making Karkat have a mini blood-pusher attack.

“What might work?” He asked after a couple of seconds.

“Karkat if you'll help me, we can make my ecto-brother a very miserable person.” She gave him a broad grin, one that sort of unsettled him with how much she looked like Strider and that it was a weird thing for either of them to do.

“How so? And what's in it for me?” Karkat asked, putting his sickles back in his syladex.

“Leave the first question to me. All you'll get out of it is the satisfaction of seeing Strider miserable, and the sheer fact of me not maiming you for what you've done to my hair.” She rubbed her hands together in a gesture that was as subtle as it was terrifying.

Karkat didn't have to think before responding, “...Alright. What do I have to do?” He pulled out a chair and pushed it next to her to sit down in.

“First, I need my alchemy equipment to procure a couple of Strider-like items. Second, I need you to not tell anyone about this or this study room.” Rose finished her requirements.

“Okay, but why the fuck can't you just get your equipment yourself?”

“For this plan to work Karkat, I can't leave the room for now. No one can know that I look this way yet.”

Karkat stood up from his chair, “Fine. Anything else, Princess Lalonde?” He teased her, already on his way to the door.

“Yes Karkat, if you would, please lose the attitude.”

"Lose your own damn attitude, Strider-I mean Lalonde." Karkat rushed out the door and ignored her response. He'd never been this eager to leave a room before.


End file.
